The Impact of Functional Neuroimaging Methods on the Development of a Theory for Cognitive Remediation

Abstract

Functional neuroimaging techniques positronemission tomography PET scanning have allowed neuroscientists to identify neural correlates of language processing in normal subjects and aspects of functional recovery after brain damage. Thesemethods havealso beenusedforidentification ofneural correlates of stimulation procedures employed in rehabilitation of severe nonfluent aphasics such as Melodic Intonation Therapy MIT. In this paper we illustrate how such methods help in studying constraints for the application of MIT. Furthermore, we suggest that neuroimaging methods might be used in finding neurobiological constraints of those rehabilitation methods which are explicitly based on cognitive models of human behaviour.